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D'Angelo Readying New Album

D'Angelo Readying New Album

Manager Kevin Liles says "Brown Sugar" singer will debut new music and head out on an international tour this year.

Published June 20, 2014

D'Angelo's 14-year sabbatical from music is nearing an end. His manger, Kevin Liles, says that the furtive singer is putting finishing touches on a new album slated for release this year.

"There's 14 records so far, we might have a couple of bonus records, but all the recording is basically done and we're mixing and mastering now. Definitely, he'll be back," Liles told Billboard.

An international tour is also in the works to begin this fall and into next year. "We're doing a James Brown tribute in August [at the Hollywood Bowl] and some one-off things," he continued. "But the touring will probably start in October and 2015."

D'Angelo's unnamed project is "very melodic" and influenced by "all things he loves," Liles said. Apart from vague descriptions, Liles didn't share much else. "It's a mixture and an evolution of where he is right now. And you have to think that when you have the opportunity to work 10 years on an album, that album's truly gonna be what you want it to be," he said. "Is it limited to the kind of sound that he did with the earlier records? No, it's not."

Vodoo, D'Angelo's last album, was released in January of 2000. He dropped off the map not long after and had remained largely out of the spotlight for the better half of the decade. In 2009 he announced an album, James River, that was never released.